Former D.C. detective to lead Manatee school investigations

Tuesday

Jul 16, 2013 at 10:28 PM

The school district's investigation department has been empty since January when the previous investigator abruptly transferred.

KATY BERGEN

School Superintendent Rick Mills is turning to a former Washington, D.C., police detective with recent experience examining school systems to head the investigative unit, a stark contrast to the district's former approach — intentionally hiring an educator with no law enforcement experience.

The school district's investigation department — shut down amid an inquiry into groping allegations against Manatee High assistant football coach Rod Frazier — has been empty since January when the previous investigator abruptly transferred.

Troy Pumphrey, currently a senior investigator for the Florida High School Athletic Association, is poised to take over a department that has been much maligned since 2005, when it was created in response to a series of personnel complaints — several involving misconduct toward students — that never made it to the downtown office.

Office of Professional Standards specialist Debra Horne's inquiry into the Frazier allegations froze after police began investigating earlier this year. Bradenton Police have since recommended that Frazier be charged with several counts of battery and Horne, former Manatee High Principal Bob Gagnon and assistant principals Gregg Faller and Matthew Kane be charged with non-reporting child abuse and lying to police.

As the district waits to see whether the State Attorney's Office will prosecute, Mills says the school investigator will no longer report to the district's legal department. Instead, if Pumphrey is approved by the School Board on Monday, he will report directly to Mills.

“There needs to be a separation between legal and the investigations,” Mills said. “You want them to act independently, and you need to eliminate any obstruction to that.”

Pumphrey, 50, has earned a reputation as a straight-shooting, thorough investigator that will be counted on to bring stability to a department that has been criticized for unnecessary, drawn-out investigations.

His references include former Manatee superintendent Roger Dearing and transition team leader Bill Vogel. He calls Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski, who served in Washington, D.C., with Pumphrey, a friend.

In some ways, Pumphrey understands what he's up against. The former police detective, who survived being shot five times in an undercover narcotics investigation in 1987, says his 17 years on the force have taught him patience, the importance of accuracy and the cognizance that all information he encounters can be used in the court of law.

Like Mills did when he arrived in the district in March, Pumphrey has an entry plan to take stock of how the district already functions. Mostly, he wants to listen.

“What (Mills) did make very clear was that he wanted to make sure there was a great transparency with that office,” Pumphrey said. “He explained that the relationship with the OPS office and teachers and the community had been strained and he was making a conscious effort to fix that.”

Extensive experience

Bored after retiring to Florida in 2005 and realizing constant fishing “got old,” Pumphrey jumped at the chance to become a lead investigator for the Florida High School Athletic Association. He says he quickly learned how school systems operated as he investigated athletic departments and testified against school boards.

Mills and others hope Pumphrey's dual knowledge of law enforcement and the education world will be a crucial component in transforming the Office of Professional Standards.

When the district was looking for an in-house investigator to hire in 2005, it intentionally shied away from someone with traditional law enforcement experience.

“We felt someone had to have an educational background, to have been in the field,” Dearing said earlier this year about that decision. “Someone with just law enforcement experience wasn't going to be sufficient.”

But Horne, who had experience as an assistant principal but not with investigations, was often criticized for her questioning tactics and methods, particularly by the union.

While Mills has not addressed Horne specifically, he said he is excited by the people he has recruited here. Manatee's investigative model does not match practices of other school districts or government entities, he adds.

Vogel, a retired superintendent and deputy superintendent of three Florida counties, also says that in the three counties he has led the districts hired in-house investigators with extensive law enforcement experience and a familiarity with how the system worked. He says he saw those traits in Pumphrey when he investigated reports of recruiting violations in Seminole County.

“He has the experience of working with schools and working with school districts,” Vogel said. “That sets him apart from others.”

The Manatee School Board is scheduled to vote on Pumphrey's selection on Monday. He would earn a $75,759 salary.